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Painted pottery is produced by adding a “slip” or thin layer of film colored with various minerals that produces various colors; usually red (hematite), white or black. Some painting was “zoned” or confined to the interior of drawings on the vessel’s surface while at other times the paint covered the entire vessel surface. If two colors were used such as red and white or red and black, the colors were painted into various designs. Paint was most often applied to the exterior of the vessel, but not always. Some San Marcos pottery was painted inside the vessel. Some potters used “negative” painting. This method painted around the design, allowing the design to remain the buff color of the vessel paste. When identifying painted pottery, it is important to identify the slip coating rather than the red discoloration produced by the vessel’s placement next to another vessel during the firing process.
For more detailed information on these and other pottery types within the Southeastern United States, please see our “Publications” page to order Lloyd Schroder’s Field Guide to Southeastern Indian Pottery (Revised & Expanded).
This amazing new book contains over 500 pottery types, each explained in very readable terms with thousands of illustrations and maps of distribution. The volume has earned the acilades of senior archaeologists like David Anderson of the University of Tennessee and well-known Georgia archaeologist Jerald Ledbetter. No serious student of archaeology should be without it.
Florida Museum of Natural History
RESEARCH: Gordon Willey described Belle Glade Plain pottery from the Belle Glade site and examples from Palm Beach County, Florida (1949).[i] Sites in the Lake Okeechobee region dating between 500 BC and 1513 AD have contained Glades pottery including Tony’s Mound, the Belle Glade site, Lake Kissimmee, Big Mound City and Fort Center.
TEMPER: Belle Glade pottery was one of the early sand-tempered pottery types in Florida.
SURFACE DECORATION: A light reddish or pinkish slip was added to the otherwise plain surface of the vessel.
VESSEL FORMS: No complete vessels are known, but vessel forms may have been similar to plain ware as large, simple bowls with incurving rims and flat lips.
CHRONOLOGY: This type belongs to the Late Woodland to Early Mississippian, Caloosahatchee IIb period dating from A.D. 800 to 1200. It should not to be confused with Glades Red that dates to the Caloosahatchee IIa period dating between A.D. 500 and 800. Associated points may include Bone and Shark Teeth and Woodland Triangular points.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: Bell Glade Red pottery is known from the Caloosahatchee and Glades regions of south Florida.
[i] Willey, Gordon R., Archaeology of the Florida Gulf Coast, Bureau of American Ethnology Smithsonian Institution, 1949, p.365
Jim Tatum collection
RESEARCH: John Goggin used this name in listing the St. Johns ware types (1952).[i] Willey described Biscayne Red as essentially the same ware. Both Goggin and Willey describe this ware from Middle Woodland, Weeden Island related sites throughout peninsular Florida with a concentration in the St. Johns region.
TEMPER: The diatomaceous earth used for tempering in this type was filled with microscopic sponge spicules that served to hold the paste together.
SURFACE DECORATION: This type is essentially St. Johns Plain with a red slip on either the interior or exterior or both.
VESSEL FORMS: Willey described large shallow wash-basin like bowls as the dominate form, but added that flattened-globular bowls also existed. The lips are rounded or flat-rounded. Many of these vessels were made for mortuary purposes and had a basal perforation or “kill hole” made into the bottom of the vessel that was finished as smoothly as the mouth of the vessel.
CHRONOLOGY: This type belongs to the Middle Woodland, St. Johns I & II periods and also may be related to the Weeden Island I period. Associated point types might include Duval, Taylor, bone, and Tallahassee points.
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION: This type has a similar distribution to St. Johns Plain, but appears to be more common in certain sections of the St. Johns River valley.
[i] Goggin, John M. Space and Time Perspective in Northern St. Johns Archaeology, Florida, Yale University Press, 1952, p.99
C. B. More
Temper: Fine sand
Distribution: From Franklin to Citrus counties along the Florida Gulf Coast
Age: Middle Woodland, Santa Rosa Swift Creek period
Vessel Forms: Small, flattened-globular bowls, large flattened-globular bowls, and globular bowls with flared collars. Bases are rounded and no appendages are known.
Decoration: Resist-dye process whereby design is brought out in the natural buff color of the vessel by the application of a black dye which fills in the background Has sometimes been referred to as “lost-color” process. Only 5 examples of the type are known. Three of these are from Crystal River; one is from Warrior River, mound B with inter-spaced dots, a running volute with inter-spaced dots and a dotted border hand, nested triangles and chevrons, and a series of separate horizontal U-shaped elements are the known designs. Designs are distributed over most of the vessel surface.
Florida Museum of Natural History
RESEARCH: Gordon R. Willey named this type for examples from the Crystal River mound site in Citrus County, Florida. Ripley Bullen discussed a variant (above right) that was not painted and that might be named Crystal River Punctated as a Florida type, but he does not seem to have formally defined it, nor did Willey mention it. This type is named for the Crystal River mound site in Citrus County, Florida.
TEMPER: Sand was used as temper in this type.
SURFACE DECORATION: Incised lines are deep and punctations are round dots. Lines have ragged edges suggesting that they were done after the vessel had been sun dried but before firing. The designs are a combination of lobate forms and circles, rectilinear flags, cruciform arrangements, points attached to lobate or circular elements, and pendant loops. Large dots often fill incised line formations. The designs are often connected to form more complex designs. Some natural forms such as hands, faces and birds appear while other forms do not appear to be natural. Designs are usually suspended from the rim, but may cover the entire vessel.
VESSEL FORMS: Known forms include flattened-globular jars, cylindrical beakers, double-globed vessels, collared jars, and composite-silhouette jars. Rims may remain unmodified, have a slight flange, or be folded.
CHRONOLOGY: Crystal River pottery has been assigned to the Middle Woodland, Santa Rosa Swift Creek period. Associated point types might include spike, Woodland Triangular (Pinellas), Taylor, and Copena points.
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION: The Crystal River site is located along the west coast of Florida, but examples have been recovered as far away as the Leake site in Bartow County, Georgia (above right).
Florida Museum of Natural History
RESEARCH: This type was discussed by Bert Mowers in 1975,[i] but was probably named by John Goggin. Examples of this pottery were recovered in the top 12 inches at the Bishop Heads site near Miami, Florida.
TEMPER: This pottery has a sand temper like other Glades Plain wares.
SURFACE DECORATION: This is essentially Glades Plain, but with a red slip applied to both the interior and exterior of the vessel.
VESSEL FORMS: Most vessels in south Florida were simple bowls with in-curving rims.
CHRONOLOGY: This is probably a Glades II pottery dating from A.D. 750 to 900 as it appeared with incised types in the upper layers of the Bishops Head site near Miami, Florida. Associated point types might include Bone and Gar Scale points, shark’s teeth, and sting ray barb points.
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION: There is no indication that this type was recovered outside the Miami area and may be localized to the area of the Bishop Heads site.
[i] Mowers, Bert, Prehistoric Indian Pottery in South Florida, copyright Bert Mowers, 1975, p.44-45
RESEARCH: This pottery was named and described by John Goggin. Bert Mowers further described the type in 1975.[i] The research done by Goggin at the Goodland Point site on Key Marco in 1949 produced 248 sherds of Goodland Plain pottery.
TEMPER: Mowers described the temper as “rounded sand grains, cemented by a reddish colored clay matrix. The type is distinguished by its reddish color, varying from tan to dark brown, but is typically brick red. Sherds are softer and thicker than Glades Plain pottery
SURFACE DECORATION: Many examples are plain as the name implies, but Mowers added that a few examples had been recovered with Key Largo or Gordons Pass Incised designs on them.
VESSEL FORMS: The known form is a simple bowl with simple a rounded rim.
CHRONOLOGY: Mowers’ mention of Gordons Pass and Key Largo decoration on this paste may suggest its existence from the late Glades I period (A.D. 500-750) until the Glades IIa period (A.D. 750-900). This type might be found with faunal and marine points and shell tools.
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION: The distribution seems to cover all or most of the Glades region of south Florida.
[i] Mowers, Bert, Prehistoric Indian Pottery in South Florida, copyright Bert Mowers, 1975, p.44
RESEARCH: Originally defined by H.G. Smith from sites in Jefferson County, Florida in 1948, Gordon Willey discussed it in 1949.[i]
TEMPER: This is a grit-tempered pottery with a smooth, highly polished surface.
SURFACE DECORATION: Plate forms are decorated with interior, red painted zones (above). Cup and small jar forms are painted with a red slip on all surfaces and highly burnished.
VESSEL FORM: Known forms include the most common plate form that has an annular ring base, a cup form and small jars.
CHRONOLOGY: This is a Historic period, mission pottery related to Kasita Red Filmed and other types of painted mission period pottery. Associated point types include Pinellas and Ichetucknee points.
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION: Mission Red pottery is identified among mission sites from Leon and Jefferson counties to the Atlantic coast of Florida and Georgia.
[i] Willey, Gordon R., Archaeology of the Florida Gulf Coast, Bureau of American Ethnology Smithsonian Institution, 1949, p.490
C. B. More
RESEARCH: Gordon Willey gave an abbreviated version of Goggin’s definition of this type in 1949.[i] John Goggin had done his research in sites in central Florida.
TEMPER: This type is heavily tempered with fine to large limestone lumps. The limestone lumps leach out leaving large holes in the surface. The paste texture is coarse and ranges from gray and tan to black in color. The surfaces are poorly smoothed.
SURFACE DECORATION: This is very similar to Pasco Plain, but with a red film on the exterior surface.
VESSEL FORMS: Vessels of this type are open and slightly constricted bowls with unmodified rims.
CHRONOLOGY: This belongs to the Late Woodland, Weeden Island II period and may extend even longer. Related point types include Duval, Pinellas, Taylor, Florida Copena, Jackson, Tallahassee, and Leon points.
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION: The southwestern part of the central Florida may be the hearth of the type, but it also extends out to the Central Gulf Coast.
[i] Willey, Gordon R., Archaeology of the Florida Gulf Coast, Bureau of American Ethnology Smithsonian Institution, 1949, p.446
RESEARCH: Gordon Willey defined this type in 1949 from his work in sites along the Northwest Gulf Coast of Florida.[i]
TEMPER: This type was tempered with crushed shell that also contained small amounts of sand and grit. The paste core is gray with a buff exterior.
SURFACE DECORATION: The surface may have originally been polished and had a medium to dark red slip applied to the surface. This is a rare type, but is found and identified when found with other Pensacola pottery with the same paste.
VESSEL FORMS: Vessel shapes conform to the Fort Walton forms including shallow bowls, casuela bowls, collared globular bowls, short-collared jars, beaker-bowls, bottles and flattened globular bowls with affixed effigies. Rims are usually unmodified. “Cookie-cutter” effigies are frequently affixed to the rims with an opposite appendage on the opposing side.
CHRONOLOGY: This is an Early to Middle Mississippian, Fort Walton period pottery type. Related points include Mississippian Triangular (Pinellas) and Guntersville points.
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION: This type has its focus in western Florida, but extends from the Mobile Bay of Alabama northward to at least the Fall Line of central Alabama.
[i] Willey, Gordon R., Archaeology of the Florida Gulf Coast, Bureau of American Ethnology Smithsonian Institution, 1949, p.446
a. C. B. More b. Gordon R Willey (1949)
Temper: tampered with fine sand and micah. Buff-fired surfaces. Both interior and exterior surfaces are smooth, occasionally polished.
Distribution: from Franklin to Citrus counties along the Gulf Coast of Florida.
Age: middle Woodland, Santa Rosa-Swift Creek period
Vessel Forms: eccentric you-shaped double vessel and cylindrical beaker
Decoration: combination of line incision and enclosed red zones. Lines have been made when paste has been extremely dry but before firing. Lines are medium broad to deep. Red pigment is carmain to crimson. Designs are very simple rectangular panels, horizontal panels, vertical zigzag bands, diagonal bands, diamonds, and pendant loops. Designs are limited to the exterior vessel walls.
C. B. More
RESEARCH: The St. Johns series of pottery was defined by John Goggin in 1952[i] from his work in sites along the St. Johns River, for which this series is named, and throughout south Florida.
TEMPER: St. Johns pottery is tempered with diatomaceous earth or soft silky clay that has microscopic fresh water sponge spicules in it that act as temper. The sherds of pottery have a soft, chalky texture, referred to as “chalky ware” as early as 1891, so that the ware can be recognized by feel alone. There was an increasing amount of sand in sherds of this type from late St. Johns II sites.
SURFACE DECORATION: This vessel, prepared specifically for mortuary purposes, was painted with a red slip that was zoned, allowing the natural buff color of the vessel to serve as the remaining decorative color. The red slip is often so weathered that it is difficult to distinguish from plain pottery.
VESSEL FORMS: The known vessel forms are usually large bowls, jars (pictured above) was designed with a basal perforation or “kill hole” for mortuary purposes. It is a globular jar with an incurved, simple rim. The basal portion is incurving with a short, but incurving collar.
CHRONOLOGY: This type appeared briefly during the St. Johns Ia period. Related point types are Pinellas, Duval, Sarasota, Columbia and Leon points.
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION: St. Johns Red on Buff pottery is known only from Volusia County, Florida.
[i] Goggin, John M., Space and Time Perspective in Northern St. Johns Archaeology, Florida, Yale University Press, 1952, p.90-105
a. Florida Museum of Natural History b. Donated by Pale Enterprises
Temper: fine sand with only rare coarser particles in the form of grit or lumps of clay. Micah is observed in most sherds. (this description comes from willies Weeden island plane description.)
Distribution: the entire Florida Gulf Coast area.
Age: middle and late Woodland, Weeden Island I and II periods.
Vessel Forms: similar to Weeden Island Plain including medium-deep hemispherical and shallow open bowls. Bowls with in curving sides vary from those which are only slightly in-curved to others which are flattened-globular. There are also jars, simple and short collard, long-collard, and with squared collars.
Decoration: in Willey’s description of Weeden Island Plain pottery, he notes the use of red paint. “Red paint of a carmine shade has been used as a slip on many specimens. Those so painted where nearly all of natural buff surface.paint has the appearance of a “fugitive” read as it is much worn and in some cases, almost completely obliterated. Nevertheless, it does not rub off and appears to have been fixed by firing, so the term “fugitive” does not properly apply. In some cases the paint was applied only to the interiors of opened bowls; in others the interior and the lip and vessel were painted red with vessel exterior left unpainted;
Florida Museum of Natural History, C. B. More
Temper: fine sand with only rare coarser particles in the form of grid or lumps of clay. Micah is observed in most sherds.
Distribution: not a common type but seems to be found from the Northwest as far South as Hillsboro County, Florida.
Age: middle to late Woodland, Weeden Island I and II
Vessel Forms: flattened globular bowl, cylindrical beaker, human-effigy vessel, and gourd-effigy vessel all noted. Rims seem to be unmodified, lips rounded. Bases are round or flat. No appendages observed.
Decoration: incisions and large triangular punctuations made in sun-dried but unfired clay. Red pigment applied before firing. Usually a light red to Carmine shade. Bands or zones outlined with fine incised lines. The lines are sometimes ornamented with deep triangular punctuations much as in the types Weeden island incised and Weeden island punctuated. Bands or zones may form Chevron’s, triangles, loops, lobate forms, or circles. Zones or backgrounds to the zones are colored with red pigment. Designs are limited to vessel exteriors.
